Subscribe

Search

Pages

Odds of being a terrorism victim on a flight

What this graphic and the underlying data analysis show more than anything else is how little evidence and rational analysis have to do with most decisions by most people. We can lament that all we want. If you’re running a lottery, you make money off this predictable irrationality. On the other hand, if you’re committed to seeing more decisions based on evidence, then you’ve got a challenge.

Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com collected the data for this handsome infographic designed by Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo. It shows your odds of becoming an airborne victim of terrorism. Maybe the new TSA rules will decrease the odds of being a terrorism victim from 1 in 10,408,947 to 1 in 10,408,948. Let’s hope so!